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THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE PLASMA CUTTING ON A CNC MACHINE

Ing. Lukas Kudrna, Assoc. prof. Ing. Jiri Fries, Ph.D.

Abstract

The technology of cutting with a plasma arc is today a very advanced solution for thermally cuttable conductive materials. Plasma or also the plasma arc is composed of positively and negatively charged particles, excited and neutral atoms and molecules. As it contains free particles, it is electrically conductive and thus subject to the effects of an electric and magnetic field. This article discusses the use of plasma cutting technology on a CNC machine. The resulting quality of the plasma cutting is determined by many factors, some of which can be affected in the selection of the CNC machines, and others during machine operation, and also by the parameter settings of the plasma cutting. The article describes all the parameters of cutting with a plasma arc. The phases of plasma cutting and the plasma cuttable materials are described in detail, including graphs explaining the thickness of the panel - cutting speed dependency. Furthermore, the gases used for cutting, cooling, or facilitating the ignition of the plasma arc are defined here. The adjustable cutting compensation set in the program has a substantial impact on the fired items. By setting the compensation or technological allowance of the cut the torch is moving at a certain distance from the component, in order to maintain its desired dimension. For cutting the external contours the compensation is positive, and for cutting the internal contours the compensation negative.

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